Tales of Slushies and Showtunes
by Tristian Im
Summary: A collection of fics, one shots, ideas and concepts all centred around Rachel Berry and Quinn Fabray and the stories they could have been as FABERRY.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey everyone. This will be my area of sharing my One-Shots, Ficlits and even some random incomplete thoughts or situations within the Faberry Universe. I want to use this melting pot as a way to practice my writing more and generate more feedback for my ideas and my writing technique, while additionally helping me just keep writing if I'm feeling particularly blocked about one of my multi-chap. If you feel like leaving a review, and I sincerely hope you do, please leave the (name of the story) in brackets like I just did as you're first words on the comment, that way I know what review belongs to what story. Any of the stories posted here will only be briefly edited and not likely Beta'ed. Lastly what I write here could be used in further Multi-chaps or built up and fleshed out as a stand alone story, if this happens I will try and mention it in any author notes posted the next time up or using a re-upload. **

**I would like to dedicate this collection of ideas and Stories to ForForever19. Reading her work gives me life lately and chatting with her recently has given me the kick I needed to come back to writing**

**Thanks for your time and Happy Reading! Tristian**


	2. ToSS: Star Spangled Banner

**STAR SPANGLED BANNER **

_Warnings: Mentions of physical assault._

Principle Figgins walked slowly out from the Mckinley Bench onto the middle of the football field. The small wrinkled Indian man looks so out of place under the harsh glare of the halogen floodlights. Once he reaches the centre of the field he turns to face the stands and taps the microphone in his hands.

"Welcome students and parents to the season opener for the Mckinley Titans." He droned on in a hopeless monotone.

The crowd replied to him with a small smattering of weak applause for the team that finished their season absolute last place the previous year.

"And for the first halftime performance of the year, fresh of their National Championship win last year our cheerleading squad, the Mckinley High Cheerios."

His last words are drowned out by the whole crowd cheering, screaming and clapping, clearly indicating who they are all here to actually see.

"Yes, yes, achievement," he continued once the crowd had died down a bit, raising his free hand in a fist and shaking it. "Now please stay on your feet for the singing of the National Anthem. We have a new student joining us tonight, she just transferred to Mckinley this afternoon and will start with our freshman classes on Monday. Please welcome Miss Rachel Berry."

Figgins was handed a mike stand by an AV nerd and clapped jovially along with most of the crowd as a young girl popped out from the Mckinley bench and began to walk toward him.

Off on the field's sidelines, watching intensely within the sea of red and white wrapped Cheerios, was freshman and "baby" cheerio Quinn Fabray. Quinn eyed this new arrival like a hawk as the short brunette walked away from them to the centre field. She was sporting a very patriotic and 'Mckinley-esk' red dress with a black belt that was coved with gold and white stars. Quinn couldn't tell for sure but the girl looked like she was short in stature and obviously, she wasn't the only one who noticed as she heard her friend Santana lean over to another cheerio, Brittney and say "She looks like a sparkly Hobbit." And they both giggle together.

Rachel finds centre field, grabs the mike off the stand as 2 spotlights from the top of the bleachers pop on, making her dress shimmer and sparkle more as she turns around surveying the crowd with what Quinn could only describe as a 'Megawatt Smile'. The girl beams at everyone for a second or two then, inexplicably her gaze somehow finds Quinn in the herd of cheerleaders and time seems to stop.

Quinn feels like all her air has been sucked from her lungs as she gazes back at this angelic thing of beauty. She notices now that Rachel has a gold headband in her hair and the spotlights are shining off it in such a way that it looks as if the girl has a legitimate halo around her head. All the things Quinn has grown up hearing about love at first sight seems to be ringing around her head and she knows at that moment she won't ever feel something like this ever again. As if acting on its own, Quinn's mouth returns Rachels gaze with as big a smile as Quinn can ever remember giving, so much so that there are tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

Time starts to move again and Rachel raises the mike to her lips and starts to sing.

The whole stadium is stunned into complete silence within the first 2 lines of Star-Spangled Banner. No one has ever heard a teenager sing with that much emotion and power in this small pocket of the USA.

To Quinn it feels like another punch to the gut or to heart, she isn't quite sure which yet, but the blond knows she has never heard something more beautiful. Quinn's conciseness is blasted with the idea that Rachels's voice is the combination of Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé and a Broadway actress she could not remember the name off at the moment.

It takes a monumental effort to pull her eyes away from Rachel but Quinn takes a moment to look around at everyone else's reactions. She sees tears in the eye's of parents and Cheerios alike, she sees both Brittney and Santana's mouths just hanging wide open, looks of absolute shock on their faces and she sees coach Sue Sylvester looking white as a sheet as she watches the tiny diva belt out the final verses of the anthem.

As the final notes ring out and reverberate around the stadium there are a few moments of quiet caused by the state of shock Rachel's singing has put everyone in. Then slowly, but with rapid momentum, a wall of noise rises from every person within the area as they all begin smashing their hands together as powerfully as possible and cheer as loud as they can. Rachel seems to bask in the applause for a few breaths then she shines that megawatt smile to everyone while giving out a few curtsies.

Principal Figgins moves back up beside her and offers her a handshake in thanks. Rachel surprises him with a hug instead that has everyone laughing at his shocked face. After awkwardly patting her on the back he escorts her off the field so they can begin the game.

Quinn knows as she watches Rachel come closer and closer to the Mckinley side of the field, deep down in her soul she needs to be close to her, to become friends with her at least. Her heart was even aching for the possibility of more. Suddenly an idea hits her as the rest of the team are stretching back out to get ready for their sideline performances. She quickly moves over to Coach, who is still watching Rachel walk around the football team towards the stands.

"That girl could be our one-way ticket to Nationals again," Quinn said, loud enough to snap Sue out of her stupor.

"What crap are you yammering about Fabray?" Coach replied, not looking down at her.

"I was just remembering you yelling that you expect the best of the best program Cheerios have ever done this year at cheer camp and thought that if we have a voice like that singing our songs the other squads won't know what hit them."

Sue now turned to face Quinn and fixed her with one of the most powerful glares the blond had ever felt. But as she looked up to her coach's eyes she noticed that coach was also analyzing her, so she set her own features and returned coach's gaze and didn't back down. They held their posture for a moment till coach, still staring daggers at Quinn, barked out:

"Brittney! Front and centre," the other taller blond was there in seconds. "Q you might have stumbled on something we could use. You and B will go see the midget and offer her an invitation but its a trial by fire to see if she is even worth my time. She needs to learn our arrangement by halftime and preform with us tonight." Quinn was shocked. Clearly, Sylvester didn't have much faith that Rachel could work with them, but after hearing Rachel sing, and the emotions she had stirred up inside the blond, Quinn needed to try.

"The rest of you sloppy baby's get to work!" She yelled while looking up at the rest of the squad, and they jumped into action.

Quinn grabbed Brittney's hand and ran off toward where she had last seen Rachel walk off-field and see if she could find the diva with this once in a lifetime opportunity, really hoping to herself she would take it...

Rachel Berry was bouncing up and down holding her dad's hands. She felt like she was on cloud nine after that applause. She really hoped this new school was going to be a fresh start for her and her family. Honestly, she was so happy the two Berry's had been in the right place at the right time this afternoon in Principle Figgins's office.

They had just about finished their registration meeting with him when his secretary had come in saying their usual performer, a girl named Mercedes, had come down with the flu and could not sing the anthem later that night. Of course, Hiram had offered Rachel as an alternative, proudly citing her many points on Rachel's dramatic resume.

Figgins had quickly agreed after Rachel had sung him only a few bars, being quite relieved he did not need to go searching far for a backup plan. He gave the Berry's the details for the evenings game and made sure Rachel had something suitable to represent McKinley. Rachel only replied with one of her dazzling smiles, and nodded, knowing exactly which dress would be suitable.

Rachel is roused from her musings by the appearance of 2 blond cheerleaders bounding in front of her.

The first was quite tall, built like a dancer, with long legs and a youthful face with a big smile that reached right to her eyes. She stepped off to Rachel's right and Rachel could have sworn her heart stopped flat at the sight of the second cheerleader.

This girl was by far the most beautiful human being Rachel had ever seen. Her angelic face was framed by golden hair pulled back into a perfect high pony. Rachel was drawn up into this girl's eyes and could see that she was happily exited on the surface, but as Rachel took a moment to look deeper she could see a hidden pain. She snapped out of the gaze as the taller girl started to talk.

"Hi, Rachel!" She said, very bubbly. "My name is Brittany and this is Quinn, we are with the Cheerios Cheerleading team. You have one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard, it was like listening to an angel. Didn't you think so Quinn?" She said while nudging her counterpart with her elbow.

As Rachel looked to Quinn, she could have sworn she saw a light blush form on Quinn's cheeks and the tips of her almost elf-like ears, but then it was gone as quick as she had noticed it.

"Well, that's pretty much the reason we are here Britt," Quinn said with a smile and reaching out a hand. "Nice to meet you, Rachel."

Rachel returned her smile and handshake. "Nice to meet you both too, care to elaborate on what you mean Quinn?"

"Our coach wants us to offer you an invite into the Cheerios to help us perform and sing our dance numbers. A voice like yours will be the exact thing we need to take us straight to Nationals. In addition, the Cheerios are the leaders at this school so you'll have a group of friends ready to look out for you in this new school."

Rachel was shocked, she would have never expected her performance to garner the attention of the Cheerios. She definitely wasn't going to turn down this gift horse.

"I'm totally in!" She told them excitedly. Then she got a little worried when the girls exchanged a look and a slight grimace.

"There is a bit of a catch," Quinn said quietly looking back at Rachel. "Coach calls it a Trial by Fire. You will need to learn the arrangement and perform with us by half time."

Rachel was through for a bit of a loop. Pretty much less than 20 min to learn a song well enough to perform and impress the rest of the squad and the coach. That was going to be a pretty daunting task. But it only took her another second to realize she really wanted this. She wanted to make some friends who might look out for her and, if she was being completely honest with herself, she really wanted to get to know Quinn better.

"I'm still in," she told the girls putting on her game face. "Do you have recordings and track setups?"

Quinn and Brittany got a bit of whiplash when they looked at each other then back at Rachel with shocked faces. Then Quinn cracked an excited smile again and she reached out for Rachel's hand and began to lead her back to the AV table.

Once the girls were at the table, Rachel settled into the seat and slipped on the headphones while Quinn cued up the practice recording.

After hitting play she stepped back a bit and watched Rachel's reaction to the routine. Quinn was surprised at the level of focus and determination she saw etched into the brunette's features. Only a minute into the recording she was already mouthing the words along with the song. At the 2-minute mark, Rachel must have seen something important or impressive because Quinn watched her mouth give a little smirk and her eyes go wide. Rachel even reversed that section 3 times before finishing off the video. Quinn definitely thought she seemed to be planning something.

Rachel cued the video back to the beginning but didn't hit play. She turned back to the girls.

"I have an idea that will probably blow everyone's mind, including your coach." She said with a smile. "But I'm going to need a few things to pull it off."

"We are here to help Rachel," Brittney said, starting to bounce excitedly beside Quinn.

"Ok, do you have a supply room with spare Cheerios gear?" Brittney nodded happily back at her. "Then I need a pair of red spanks you girls have on, a pair of socks and shoes, size 6 hopefully?" Brittney blasted off like an energizer bunny, en route to the Cheerios locker room.

Quinn looked quizzical down at the other girl. "What on earth are you planning Berry?"

"Can you trust me?" Rachel said, her brown eyes looking up straight into Quinns.

"I don't even know you yet, but I feel like I don't even have a choice."

Rachel flashed Quinn her a megawatt smile and Quinn felt momentarily stunned.

"Do we have any wireless mic?" Rachel asked, shaking Quinn out of the haze of strange emotions Rachel was making her feel.

"I'll get one set up for you," Quinn replied and she hurried off to another table, thankful for the time to try and get a grip on herself.

Rachel turned back to the video and hit play and then closed her eyes and just let the music wash over her. She sat like this for 2 full playbacks of the video while she memorized the song. Then she watched it once more to get the timing exact for what she had in mind. Just as she was finishing Britney came racing back with her supplies. Rachel used the table to block any onlooker's view as she shimmied into the spanks. Then sat back down, toed out of her shimmery golden high heels and into the white Cheerio athletic socks and Adidas. As she finished lacing up, Quinn came back with a wireless mic kit in her hand. Thankfully Rachel had worn a belt with this dress. She cinched it a bit tighter and attached the battery pack to her back. As Brittney helped Rachel attach and tape the mic to her cheek, Quinn was carefully threading the cord down the back of her dress.

Rachel could have sworn she felt Quinn's fingers linger along her back slightly longer than necessary when she adjusted Rachel's zipper. The ghostlike touch of Quinn's fingers left the top of Rachels dress and met the back of her neck, just underneath her hair, and Rachel shuddered slightly, goosebumps forming across her skin. The shudder made Quinn realize what she was doing and she retracted her hands sharply with a quick gasp. Rachel turned slightly to peek at her out of the corner of her eye. Quinn was staring dazed at the ground, wringing her hands in front of her, and her cheeks flushed pink. Rachel turned the rest of the way around and wrapped both her hands around Quinns.

"Everything ok Quinn?" She said to her with a small smile.

"What?" Quinn whispered out, looking up at Rachel very dazed and confused again.

"Are we all set up and ready to go?" Rachel asked quietly, taking a bit of pity on the blond, trying to get her focused on the task at hand.

It took a few more seconds but Quinn shook herself again and her game face slid back into place again. "Yep, you're all wired up and ready to rock."

"Good!" Rachel replied. "The last thing I need from you both is to pass the word to the squad to stay extra focused at the 2 min mark of the routine, not to get distracted by anything else going on."

"No problem." Brittney and Quinn agreed, "Let's head over there now, Quinn and I should warm-up and stretch, halftime is coming up." Brittney continued.

The girls walked together over to the squad. Coach Sylvester watching them like a hawk as they approached. Rachel had the distinct feeling she was being completely analyzed, she even noticed the exact moment when the coach saw she was wearing Cheerio shoes, as her eyes went wide and her face formed a grimace.

"What's going on Q?" She greeted them in a low growl when the girls made it to her.

"Coach Sylvester, meet Rachel Berry," Quinn replied, slightly dodging Coach's questions. "Rachel has accepted your Trial by Fire, and has something special planned."

"Pleased to meet you Coach." Rachel offered her a handshake and a megawatt smile. "Thank you for this chance, I can promise you won't be disappointed."

"Ha," Coach exclaimed, completely ignoring Rachels outstretched hand, "You might have an impressive set of pipes there Little Streisand, and that might have got your little foot in the door, but I completely expect this to be a supreme waste of my time." She glared down at Rachel, but Rachel was secretly empowered by the mention of her idol, so she squared up her shoulders and glared back not backing down under the withering gaze of Sue Sylvester. They held the stare down for a minute, then Coach barked "Q, B lead warmups!" Still not breaking her gaze at Rachel. Another point for the tiny diva Sue secretly mused to herself, she didn't even flinch. The blonds hustled off and Coach finally looked away from Rachel to supervise.

Rachel let out a little breath and then stepped a bit behind Coach and began her own warm-up and stretched, very excited for what was to come.

A few minutes later the horn sounded the end of the quarter. Unsurprisingly the Mckinley Titans were already loosing 21-7, but when the Cheerios were announced and took to the field the groans of the crowd immediately changed to cheers and everyone was on their feet to watch the true spectacle.

Once everyone was in place the crowed calmed just before the music for 'Don't Stop the Music' blasted out of the speakers and the Cheerios launched into action. The squad was flawless as they flipped, jived and danced to the beat. What shocked everyone was Rachel striding out onto the field while singing the lyrics. Once she joined the squad she fit herself in seamlessly, even joining in on the dance moves like she had been practicing them with the squad the whole time.

Another point to Little Streisand thought Coach Sylvester from the sideline.

The moment for Rachel's surprise came closer and she weaved in and out of the squad like they were not even there, slowly moving to the back of the formation, singing the song perfectly the whole time.

Then the 2-minute mark hit, the squad had formed a cascade of bodies pulling and flying from the centre out to both sides evenly but leaving a channel of space down the centre just were Rachel had positioned herself. She took a quick breath and took off with a running start towards the crowd as the opening formed. Suddenly she threw her hands into the ground and was flying through the squad in 3 consecutive gymnast round-offs, on the 3rd she was passed the front of the squad and her momentum was built enough that she coiled her legs and flowed right into the air in a full front flip, her red dress flying behind her like a cape. She landed on her feet and dissipated the last her forward momentum with a hands-free cartwheel that transitioned into the splits on the grass, and resumed the lyrics from there to finish the song. Moments later the squad finished with their final pose.

It was like a localized thunderstorm hit Mckinley. The noise from the crowd was completely deafening and Rachel took a moment, closed her eyes and let it roll over her while she smiled again. She only got a moment before a tall blond swept her right off the grass in a swinging hug! "That was amazing Rachel." Brittney squealed into her ear. As Brittney set her down she was slammed into another hug by another blond. "Holy shit!" Quinn exclaimed. They couldn't say much more because 2 of the base position girls came up behind Rachel and hoisted her up onto their shoulders and they led the squad off the field to the resounding cheers of "Cheerios! Cheerios! Cheerios!" The cheers followed them down into the hallway, echoing around them and only got slightly muffled once they got threw the doors to the change rooms.

Everyone was cheering, clapping and congratulating Rachel on such an amazing routine change.

"Alright, you sloppy baby's!" The whole room instantly went dead quiet as Coach Sylvester slipped into the change room. You could hear a pin drop as Coach waited a moment to draw tension. "Take a moment to welcome your new Cheerio member, then let her explain where the hell those floor skills came from?"

Everyone started laughing, even Coach had a small smirk if anyone cared to notice.

Then the squad began to chant, "Rachel! Rachel! Rachel!"

She graciously smiled, shook some hands, and received some more hugs before they all calmed down a bit so Rachel could explain.

"Thank you, everyone, for this opportunity, honestly if tonight had not happened, tomorrow at school I would have been seeking you out begging for a way to audition. The Cheerios were one of the first things we heard about when we moved here." Everyone laughed again. "All my extracurriculars have been focused around performing since I was 5, so I am professionally trained at a competitive level for singing, dance and floor gymnastics. Last year I was injured pretty badly and couldn't dance or be on the gym floor so I filled that time with choreography/and teaching courses, so I also have certification there as well, not to sound like I'm bragging or anything." And the squad laughed again.

Rachel took a moment to glance around the room at the smiling faces looking at her and she knew now was the time for full disclosure and hopefully what she offered onto the table would be enough, of course, she picked out Quinns face from the crowd smiling back at her and she focused on her to gauge her reaction.

"I really want a chance to be part of this squad, but my past has taught me some hard lessons and I want you girls to know who I am before you bring me in." Rachel kept staring at Quinn as she saw some concern to mask over the smile. "I was injured last year because I was jumped by kids from my old school and beaten pretty badly. I was jumped because my best friend turned on me when I shared with her something I have known about myself since I was 9. I was in the hospital for a month recovering from being attacked because I'm gay."

Suddenly you could hear a pin drop in the Cheerios locker room for the second time that night.

_Feb 12/2020_

**AN: I honestly don't know where to go from here with this story as this was as far as my inspiration took me. Please read and leave a review or some suggestions, just make sure to start the review with (Star Spangled Banner). I'm sorry again for any Grammar or spelling issues, I'm trying to work on them.**

**Thanks for reading**

**Tristian**


	3. ToSS: Happy Valentines

**Happy Valentines**

_Warnings: Mentions of Sexual Interaction_

**AN: FF apparently went berserk with this upload, I have now re-edited and re-uploaded.**

Quinn Fabray finally made it back to her locker to drop off her books from the day and grab anything she needed to work on later at home. She is fucking exhausted if she is being completely honest with herself. Between rehearsals for Glee and Cheerio's practice, Student leadership and keeping her perfect 4.0 GPA in place, Quinn is about ready to sleep for a week straight. Honestly, she is glad that she and Rachel had agreed to not do anything for Valentines Day this year.

She spun the last dial and popped open the latch, promptly dropping her textbooks from her free hand onto the ground with a "Sweet Jesus's!" Under her breath, as she looked inside.

Her locker had mysteriously transformed into a riot of pink hearts, fairy lights and pictures.

Oh, so many pictures of her and her oh so beautiful, but devilishly sneaky girlfriend Rachel Barbra Berry. All of them showing some of Quinn's favourite moments in the girl's adventure together in the last 3 years. As she looked through the wonderful memories she noticed there was a strange path of tiny golden stars weaving a path through the windows of time in their lives.

Quinn tracked the path of stars to a bigger star in the bottom right corner of the door of her locker, it read "_Start here"_ in Rachel's beautiful loopy cursive. Seeing it brought a smile to Quinn's face and a warm feeling spread through her chest from her heart.

The first picture was probably one of the first pictures Quinn had willingly been in with Rachel without it being any class or group prompting. It was a selfie of the two of them lounging beside Rachels pool the summer after Quinn had given birth to Beth.

Rachel, showing her sneaky side again, had used the weird connection between Beth, Shelby and Quinn to get a bit closer to Quinn that summer. It had ended up working out ok for Quinn, she reluctantly admitted, because Rachel was surprisingly supportive of everything and ended up helping her get back in shape after having Beth quite quickly creating a unique workout schedule then participating in everything with Quinn. Quinn also admitted Rachel was massively less high strung away from Mckinley during the summer, making her far reasonable to be around. They had formed a pretty solid friendship by the end of that summer. Grade 11 year had started for both girls and they seemed to shift the dynamic at Mckinley with their unexpected friendship.

The trail of stars led to the left to the next photo.

Rachel had come to Quinn when Mr. Schue had announced this year's duet competition and begged, pleaded and batted those star-filled big brown eyes at her until she had agreed to partner with her. The picture was taken by Kurt of the two of them on stage as they shocked everyone, harmonizing so beautifully, and crushing the competition. If anyone had pointed out to Quinn that her eyes and Rachel's eye hadn't left each other the whole song, after that performance, maybe Quinn would have had a bit more warning of what was to come and could have prepared a bit better.

Maybe.

The star trail climbed up, walking over a miniature print out of the front of the Breadtixx menu. Rachel must have put that there because they did have such a good time together celebrating their win as dinner as friends that year. The year after Quinn did admit to Rachel that she considered that evening to be their first date, even if she was too dense to see it at the time.

Skipping over the menu, the stars led Quinn to a picture of the full cast of Rocky Horror on the stage. Quinn had a bit of a quiet chuckle when examining this picture because it was one of the 5 pictures they had to toss out, Rachel had kept sneaking glances passed Finnept and was staring at the side of Quinn's head. When Ms. P had called her out on it on the last time she had just mentioned that Quinn's wig must have been slightly off centre and only Rachel's well-experienced theatre eye would have caught it. Rachel had blushed so brightly at that, and they finally were able to get a good photo.

Right next to Rocky Horror was a little hand-drawn picture of Quinn's wonderful red VW with hearts floating above it then what looked like a drawing of Sam looking like the Beatle had run him over... dear god.

Quinn closed her eyes and pictured the memories these images invoked in her.

Clearly, the VW with hearts was here because that was where Quinn and Rachel had shared their first kiss! They had just finished Rocky, then celebrating with the rest of the Gleeks and Quinn had driven Rachel home. Just as they got into Rachel's driveway their duet song had come on the radio and they sat parked there, starring into each other's eyes again and belting the song out at the top of their lungs again. Then as the song ended, flying on what Rachel calls a "musical high" Rachel had leaned over the centre console of the car, pulled Quinn's face closer gently with a free hand and kissed her deeply. Quinn later shared with Rachel that it was one of the most amazing kisses she had ever had in her life to that point. (Rachel has now made it her mission to keep topping that kiss..) But at that time that kiss caused a lot of panic. After a few moments Quinn regained her senses and had pushed Rachel away, probably harder than she meant too because Rachel had banged her head on the glass of the window, and Quinn's face must have shown anger or disgust because Rachel looked so hurt as she scrambled out of the car.

The second part of that picture was Sam being run over by the "Love Bug". Thankfully since that event, Quinn and Sam have talked about what happened and are good friends now, but back then she really hated how she had treated him.

Sam had been making attempts and passes at getting Quinn out for a date for a while now. So with everything suddenly so confusing about her and Rachel, and a heavy dose of what Santana called "gay panic", Quinn finally agreed the next weekend. Plainly put it was a disaster. Sam had been quite a gentleman with dinner and a movie, but Quinn couldn't stop seeing Rachel's hurt face anywhere they had gone. Their server looked like her, the lady filling the popcorn, the supporting actress on the movie all became Rachel before Quinn's eyes, and her tear-filled gaze cut into Quinn's very soul. The fact that Quinn even excused herself from the climax of the movie to go to the washroom and have a full-blown panic attack, clutching her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth on the toilet seat, still wasn't enough to clarify things for Quinn. It wasn't until Sam kissed her goodnight on her front porch and she felt absolutely nothing other than this wasn't Rachel she was kissing did it click for Quinn.

She was gay.

She was gay and she liked Rachel Berry.

She was gay, she liked Rachel Berry, who had become her best friend over the last few months A LOT.

Once that realization hit, Quinn had started crying, right in the middle of Sam's kiss. She pushed him back, sobbed an "I'm sorry, I can't do this," and dashed inside leaving a very confused Sam on the porch while she ran to her bedroom and cried herself to sleep. She had no idea how to fix things with Rachel at that point.

Thank goodness for the Super Substitute, Holly Holiday who breezed into their lives a few days later, and was featured in the next picture on the journey. Rachel and Quinn standing together in the Choir Room, side by side, big grins on their faces, their closest hands intertwined, Holly standing behind them with a big smile and her hands rubbing their outside shoulders with care. Ms. Pilsbury had taken that one.

Holly had breezed into Glee and had picked up on the romantic tension between Quinn and Rachel almost instantaneously. She eventually convinced them to have a group therapy session with Ms. P and things had been fixed, mostly. They both told each other how they had felt and agreed they wanted to be together, taking things slow and seeing where they went.

Things were fixed.

Almost.

Quinn couldn't tell Rachel about Sam. She couldn't bear to see that hurt expression mar Rachel's beautiful face again. It would have been agony again and Rachel probably wouldn't have spoken to Quinn again.

So of course, Quinn had just delayed the inevitable.

But for the time being, things were good between the two of them. They spent time together, just acting like friends on the outside but sort of dating on the inside. Quinn remembered that this was the time she really solidified who she was and how much she felt for Rachel. All their previous interactions, going back all the way to freshman year made sense to her at this point. Something had always been driving her toward Rachel. Clearly, it had been Quinn's heart. Not realizing till then, she had lashed out violently, but now things were good.

This leads Quinn to the next picture in Quinn's Valentine's adventure. It was a beautiful one of just the two of them dancing together at Burt and Carol's wedding. The had gone together as "friends" to stave off the hurt puppy eyes Quinn was getting from Sam and the weirdly intense longing Gigantor was sending Rachel. But they both agreed secretly it was a really good date. The whole thing had been a blast, with lots of dancing, jokes and glee pranks. Carol had actually been the one to capture the romantic moment of Rachel and Quinn's dance together. They had made sure to be mindful most of the night and keep it on a friend's level, but as the night had worn down, the tension between them had started to go up. Just being close to each other like that had been like nothing Quinn had ever felt. Most of the guests and Gleeks had left, Finn was actually asleep at a table, and there had been a wonderful slow song playing and Quinn couldn't resist pulling Rachel closer, holding her tight and swaying to the music. There was a moment when Rachel had looked up and just gazed into Quinn's eyes with such emotion.

That was the picture. That was when Quinn was pretty sure she was falling in love with Rachel Berry, and she was very sure Rachel felt the same with what was written on her face that night.

Carol had hugged the both of them tightly on the way out of the wedding whispering "You both look made for each other," into there ears. Their phones had dinged with the picture by the time they had made it to the VW.

Their kiss after the wedding was another one for the record books. The Faberry Record Books of Best Kisses of All Time. "_God, Rachel is rubbing off on me too much,"_ Quinn thought to herself.

The next window in time was a pink construction paper heart cut out with a bottle of champagne drawn on it. Cute, but not quite. There was a jagged black felt marker line cutting right through the middle of the heart, clearly symbolic of a broken heart.

Quinn knew right away what this was telling her. Not telling Rachel about what happened with Sam had blown up in her face like she knew it would.

The Gleeks had been supper high stressed with everything going on between school, many different competitions, and relationship dramas so Puck had suggested a party. Quinn had ended up hosting because her mom had gone out of town to visit her older sister. Everyone had gotten really drunk, especially Sam and then he had just confronted her about everything that had happened right in front of Rachel. Quinn had glanced over Sam's shoulder and saw that hurt, broken face on the verge of tears after she had tried so hard to avoid it from happening. Then Rachel had turned to run away, Quinn had flinched forward to go after her but Sam actually grabbed her and kissed her. She pushed him away immediately but because he was so drunk he fell and she somehow got tangled in the fall and it took a few moments to extricate herself. In those moments, when Quinn finally made it to the front yard, Rachel was gone. Then Quinn heard someone throwing up on the floor in the hall behind her and she knew she couldn't chase after Rachel tonight. She would talk to her tomorrow and explain everything.

It hadn't happened. Rachel blocked her texts, her calls went straight to voicemail and she managed to somehow avoid being anywhere Quinn was, except the Choir room where she had sat with Kurt on the opposite end of the room completely ignoring her. Thankfully everyone was too focused on writing original songs for Regionals to notice the tension.

Quinn really didn't want it to be over, but it had sure felt over without either of them saying the words.

The next picture was one from the Berry-Boys, Quinn's loving name for the 2 Berry dads, LeRoy and Hiram. They had rapidly become the best father figures in Quinn's life these last few years. She smiled at the fact that she had lost one dad, found Rachel and then gained two.

The picture was of Rachel on stage at Regionals singing her beautiful original song. That song had completely ruined Quinn. She had needed to fix things but didn't know how too at that moment. In the corner of the picture there was a sticky heart with more beautiful cursive, "_Open the Heart"_.

Quinn reached up and ran her finger around the seam of the heart and found that it opened like a card along the "broken heart" black line obviously. Inside was the beautifully written lyrics for Rachels song Get it Right shrunk down so they would fit inside the card. On one half of the heart Rachel had written, "_You are my muse, Quinn"_. On the other side, she had said, "_It never mattered if we wanted to kill each other or kiss each other, you have always driven me to be better Quinn, I Love You."_

"_My God," _Quinn thought to herself, "_This damn girl is going to make me cry in the middle of the school hall."_ She quickly swiped the tears that had formed away and examined the next photo on the path closely because it was one of just her.

Quinn Fabray, standing in a nice dress on the Berry's front steps, looking forlorn. Quinn realized this was a picture grabbed from the high definition security camera the Berry-Boys had installed on their front porch. Being out an proud in Lima Ohio did come with some risks, vandalism being one of the main ones. Realizing where the photo was from Quinn remembered what had happened and why it was there.

The girls had not talked in 2 weeks since the party incident and it had been driving Quinn crazy, she had not only lost her almost girlfriend, but she had also lost her best friend. On the way home from Regionals, Get it Right had been playing over and over in Quinn's head and she got an idea. The next day she went over to the Berry's and just waited at the front door. LeRoy had left using the garage at some point and must have called Hiram because he came out and talked to Quinn not long after telling her that today wasn't a good day. Quinn has responded calmly and said she understood and was sorry but she would wait on the porch all day and the next if she needed to get a chance to tell Rachel she had fallen in love with her and to apologize for what had happened between them.

Hiram had been stunned and muttered an Ok and walked back inside closing the door behind him. Quinn figured he had told Rachel right way but she had needed time to clean up because it was about 45 minutes later that a freshly showered, yet red-eyed, Rachel appeared at the door. Quinn immediately started singing Get it Right filled with as much emotion and love than she could possibly fill it with. By the end, Rachel's hand was coving her mouth but her eyes looked happy to Quinn. Quinn then had poured her heart out to the brunette telling her she was so sorry for not explaining what had happed with Sam and that she had fallen totally in love with her. When Rachel had heard the I love you she had launched herself at Quinn, wrapping her arms around her neck and kissing her deeply and passionately. Once they had broken apart for air Rachel told Quinn she loved her too.

They had fixed properly that time. They were girlfriends totally and completely.

The trail of stars now leads Quinn across the door to the back of her locker. She was getting to the really important pictures now. The memories that started defining her and Rachel as a couple.

The first one was their prom picture, which also included a beautiful hand-drawn picture of a Gardenia.

They had decided to go together and come out to the school at prom. Rachel decided to "ask Quinn to prom" in glee a few weeks before and got everyone to help her make it special for Quinn, including a beautiful Gardenia corsage, tied with a green ribbon that matched Quinn's eyes. Once that happened, Santana also opened up to the Gleeks that she was gay as well and promptly asked Brittney to go to prom with her. When the day arrived, everyone worked together to make it special, sharing costs for cabs or limo's, helping each other get ready, and meeting up at Beadstixx for big glee dinner party beforehand.

Prom itself had been beautiful. Quinn and Rachel were so happy together and with their friends, they just ignored everything else around them. When Karofsky was crowned King for his work trying to change the bulling at Mckinley, and Kurt was crowned Queen for what was supposed to be a massive prank, it is diffused quickly when Quinn and Rachel, Santana and Brittney, Sam and Puck, and Blane and Mike all stand up and start dancing as well in a show of support. Karofsky shocked Mckinley by taking Kurt's hand and dancing with him for a few moments. Rachel and Quinn took this opportunity to come out to the school and shared a sweet kiss in the middle of the dance floor. Santana and Brittney joined them moments later and Blane gentlemanly cut in with Kurt, after Kurt gave David an encouraging hug, and they shared a kiss as well.

Above the prom picture was a set of three pictures. They had all been taken when Glee had gone to New York for Nationals. Thanks to Rachel and Quinn's joint leadership, the New directions were completely prepared for Nationals before arriving, unlike what Mr. Schue had been planning. They allowed everyone one day of tourism before practices. Rachel had promptly taken Quinn on a windswept city date.

The first stop, and the first picture, was meeting Kurt and Blane (who had come to cheer Kurt on) for Breakfast at Tiffany's. Blane had taken a selfie of all four of them thanks to his long arms. He had just managed to get the Tiffany's logo into the frame above their heads.

Next, they all trooped over to the Gershwin Theatre. Rachel batted those big brown eyes at the security guard and he had let them in for 5 minutes. Quinn knew within one minute of watching Rachel singing on that stage, this was where Rachel was going to belong. Quinn swore to herself to do anything in her power to make that happen, all the while hoping to be right beside her to cheer her on every night. She had taken picture number two of Rachel singing out to that imaginary audience.

Quinn and Rachel had left the boys at that point and grabbed a cab to Central Park. Rachel had shocked Quinn speechless with a booked romantic pick-nick in the park. They had just laid in the sun for hours, chatting about everything and anything, just enjoying being in love in New York. They had capped the afternoon off with a walk through most of the park, hand in hand. Of all the irony in the world, as they made it to the bridge in the park, they came across a lesbian wedding party taking photos in the park. As they waited one of the brides noticed them watching and holding hands, she came over to them smiling at the young love she had seen to give them a hug chat with them a bit. Of course, Rachel had charmed her in seconds flat too and ended up getting a chance to use their professional photographer for one photo of the two of them on the bridge that the ladies would email to Rachel later, that was photo number thee.

As Quinn reminisced about New York she had a smile at the fact that Finn the Klutz had cost them Nationals by whacking Puck in the face on stage and breaking his nose. They were going to be ready this year.

The next photo was the biggest of them all, placed right in the centre of Quinn's locker, blown up bigger than any of the rest and surrounded by pink hearts.

It was a picture of Beth's laughing face in the centre, between Rachel kissing one cheek on her perfect little face and Quinn kissing the other. All Quinn could think of when looking at that photo was "_Thank God for sending me Rachel Berry." _Rachel had kept her grounded and helped her work through all of the psychological baggage that giving Beth to Shelby had presented, Allowing Quinn to be strong and mature for the day that Shelby realized there was still a hole in her heart that wasn't filled with just Beth. Thankfully She had been accepting of Quinn and Rachel's relationship and the four of them had spent time together getting to know each other together.

The final photo above Beth's was a long panorama shot taken from a tripod, taken just this past Christmas. The Berry's had hosted a big Chrismakha Celebration at their house and the girls had filled the house with the people that had formed around them to become their family in this crazy adventure of love. Rachel and Quinn were in the centre, the Berry-Boys were behind Rachel, Judy was holding onto Beth beside Quinn, Shelby was beside the Berry-Boys. Santana and Brittney were looking chill beside Judy (Brittney had been making faces at Beth moments before the timer on the camera had gone off). And finally, Kurt and Blane were beside Shelby. It had been one of the best holiday parties Quinn had ever been too.

On either side of the family picture, Quinn found two hearts attached to drawstrings. The one on the left reading _"Pull first"_. Quinn pulled down gently and a shrunk down print-out of Rachel's acceptance to NYADA and Quinn's acceptance to Columbia. The words "_Starting our future together"_ were written across them. That brought tears to Quinn's eyes again. She was so excited to be going to New York with Rachel next semester.

Quinn reached up and pulled the string labelled "_Pull Second"_.

Somehow a thin box dropped from under the top shelf of the locker. Quinn snatched it up suddenly exited, opened it up and gasped. Inside was a beautiful gold chain with three gold charms on it. A heart in the middle, a notebook on the left (Quinn was going to Columbia for a master's in Writing) and a music note on the right. Just as she was pulling the chain from the box she jumped slightly as she felt warm hands slip around her waist from her back, and a warm chest pressed against her back.

Rachel Berry's breath tickled across the nape of Quinn's neck as she breathed out softly "I could help you with that if you want?"

"Please," Quinn whispered back, unable to control the fact that it sounded like a desperate whimper. Quinn's journey through memory lane had left her a pile of emotional putty in Rachel's capable hands. Those dainty digits left Quinn's abdomen and gently stroked Quinn's arms down to her fingers, gently pulling the necklace free and bringing it up to Quinn's neck. Quinn gasped and Rachel chuckled as Rachel's forearms grazed the side of Quinn's chest on the way up.

"_Who on earth taught this diva to be so cruel?" _Quinn thought to herself as Rachel also stroked her fingers slowly around her neck while bringing the clasps around. There was a wave of heat that spread from her flushed cheeks to her lower abdomen.

Rachel locked the necklace together and sealed it with a burning hot kiss to the back of Quinn's neck and Quinn couldn't take it anymore. She whipped around to face Rachel, grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back around her, pinning her against the lockers and kissed her for everything she was worth. Thankfully the hall was now empty because the making out got very heated to be happening at school.

When the necessity for air forced them apart they both were groaning at the loss of contact. Quinn looked down with dark eyes into the smirking face of her girlfriend.

"Happy Valentine's baby." Rachel purred, far to smug for her own good.

"I thought we were not celebrating this year Rach?" Quinn pouted back at her.

"If you think back about those two conversations we had about it, you might remember that I acknowledged you were talking with me the first time without actually agreeing and then distracted you with my lips the second time," Rachel smirked again as Quinn's eyes glazed over and face flushed red with the memory of that last conversation about Valentines. They had ended up making out so passionately to the point of orgasm with their clothes still on. They still haven't taken that final step yet.

"I knew how much you had going on and I wanted to surprise you and treat you this year," she continued. "Maybe we can alternate years?"

"That sounds really good."

"Did you like your gift so far?" Rachel asked beaming up into the eyes of the blond.

"I loved it Beautiful, but what do you mean so far? You have already done so much for me."

Rachel bit her lower lip so seductively while considering her answer. She pulled Quinn in a little closer so she could whisper into her ear. "Well the Berry-Boys have gone away for their own valentine weekend and there is one more picture I want to take with you. It will have to be on my old Polaroid and it will need to be locked in my safe after but it will exist for us as a reminder of the first time we made love together. A Beautiful ... naked ... reminder."

Quinn was lucky to reach out and grab the edge of her locker for support as her legs almost gave out as she flinched back from Rachel to look into her eyes to try and see if she was serious. The confident, almost cocky, smiling face of Rachel Berry gazed back at her. The brunette's eyes fully dark with need and desire. She was dead serious.

Rachel kissed her cheek and spun out from between Quinn and the lockers and began sauntering away with a swing of her hips that had Quinn's eyes glued to her ass.

Rachel of course turned and caught her staring with another smirk. "Are you coming, baby?"

Quinn's brain unlocked and she scrambled to grab everything she needed, with one last look at the amazing decorated locker, she closed the door and ran after her naughty naughty girlfriend with the lasting thought, "_Happy Valentines Day indeed!"_

**AN: Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed this story. For the time being, it will be a stand-alone one-shot that just hit me on the Thursday before Valentine's and just needed to be written. Maybe down the road, I could see going back and doing a multi chap based on this AU, but there are too many other ideas I want to write first.**

**Again I'll apologize for major grammar issues and I think I struggled with my past and present tense and possibly what view I was writing in some areas. I'm still learning. **


End file.
